


Kings and Queens

by highfunctioningsarcastic



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, Grishaverse, Ketterdam, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26803702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/highfunctioningsarcastic/pseuds/highfunctioningsarcastic
Summary: Inej returns to Ketterdam for the first time since Kaz gave her The Wraith and she was reunited with her parents. It's the same city in a lot of ways, and there are still no good men in Ketterdam.A/N: Some swearing, references to past abuseAs always, cross-posted to Wattpad @BallereinaDreaming.
Relationships: Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck, Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa
Comments: 18
Kudos: 45





	1. Inej

The acrid tang of smoke mixed with sea air that Inej had come to associate with Ketterdam irritated her nose long before the familiar harbor came into view. It had been months since she'd been back for longer than a few hours to restock The Wraith and turn in slavers to the Merchant Council. Those short stops in the port city had been too short for Inej to see the point of letting anyone know that she'd be back. Kaz wouldn't hear that she'd been there until she was gone unless she let him know personally, the last anyone had heard from her, Nina was still in Ravka and intending to remain so, and Jesper and Wylan would try to make her stay days longer than she planned to.

This visit was different. There was no escaping that. Inej planned to turn control of her little boat over to Specht for at least two weeks. Her first mate had been the only member of the Dregs to see her in person for more than a year, and Inej had liked it that way. She'd made a nearly clean break with Ketterdam and everyone who stalked its streets, but she was ready for a visit with old friends. Wylan and Jesper knew she was coming; she was planning to stay with them at the Van Eck mansion. The boys had planned a birthday celebration for her the first night she was home to acknowledge that she'd turned eighteen less than a week before her homecoming. Homecoming. Ketterdam no longer felt any more like home than her boat did; less, in fact, if not for the people she knew she would see. The heart is an arrow. 

Despite the fact that Inej had gotten word to Jesper and Wylan that she was coming to stay with them weeks in advance, she hadn't told Kaz. She couldn't have told anyone who asked exactly why she hadn't let him know she was returning, but she hadn't. As the harbor came into view, Inej slid down from the crow's nest and went to join Specht at the wheel.

"You'll return in two weeks?"

"Unless you send word, The Wraith will be waiting in berth twenty-two two weeks from today," Specht told her seriously. The man had been an excellent first mate. Inej noted that she owed Kaz thanks for releasing Specht from the Dregs in order to serve under her command; he was a valuable resource in more ways than one. Of course, until shortly before she'd turned her back on Ketterdam, a valuable investment was all she had been to Kaz as well.

Running lightly to the bow of her boat, Inej drank in the sight of the city she had called home for nearly three years. It could appear unchanged, but she knew that cities and the people who live in them are ever-changing and the first glimpses could be deceiving. Her sparse belongings that would not remain aboard ship were already packed in a knapsack that waited by where the gangplank was stored. She returned to where she'd left it to gather it up before returning to the prow.

The smile that had grown across her face as the docks of her city were revealed faded when she saw a single figure standing at her boat's berth.

Kaz.

He looked nearly as unchanged as the city, though more than a year older and with rather longer hair. To smile at the sight of Kaz Brekker was unseemly. Though there was no one but he and the gulls to see her, she assumed an expression of thoughtful indifference as her boat bumped its way to berth. Even before the mooring lines had been securely fastened, she lept ashore. Ketterdam. Not home, anymore, even if it was once. The smoke pricked at her eyes and nose, stronger than it had been out in the harbor. Saints, this city was polluted. 

She'd told Wylan and Jesper that she'd arrive once her ship docked, but she hadn't expected to arrive nearly three hours before sundown. Bells might mark the city's hours, but there was no bell tower in the Church of Barter to mark time on the sea.

Kaz was making his way towards her, cane in hand, gloves on. Inej kept her face neutral, calling her final orders for The Wraith and her crew to Specht before acknowledging that she'd seen him. He knew she had.

"Kaz."

"Wraith." The indifference in his rough stone voice made her heart hurt, but she shook the twing away. "You came back."

"I told you I wasn't done with Ketterdam. I'm still not." He is wearing his gloves, she reminded herself. Nothing has changed. But everything had. The morning she'd left Ketterdam, he'd left his gloves behind and they had stood hand in bare hand. If recovery was easy, everyone would. Kaz could; Inej felt it in her bones. "The city needs saving." Kaz ceded her the point, but Inej wasn't done. He needed to know that she hadn't changed, but before she could find the words, he had begun to speak again.

"Ketterdam always needs saving, it's an irredeemable sinner personified by a city. What made now so ideal?" 

"It's been a while. I celebrated a birthday recently. Wylan and Jesper have planned a party for this evening." A plethora of weak reasons spouted, she walked past him without looking back. Kaz watched her walk, leaning on his cane.

"Wraith," Kaz said, quietly. She pretended not to hear him, keeping her steps silent and even, but she knew that he knew that she had heard. "Inej." She paused.

"Yes, Kaz?"

"Tell Wylan to set an extra plate." 

Inej was relieved that Kaz did not follow her or try to walk beside her as she made her way through the Barrel towards Wylan and Jesper's. Doubtless he had plenty to attend to before giving an evening to recreation, but she was glad for the privacy she shared with her smile.


	2. Kaz

Kaz watched Inej until she vanished into the crooked streets of the Lid, fading like water into the crowds along East Stave. She hadn't told him she was coming back. She didn't want you to know. It hadn't been hard to find out when she'd return to Ketterdam; a night out with Jesper had seen to that, but he'd had to wait in sight of her berth for much of the day.

He'd already known about the birthday party. Had already bought her a knife, though Jesper would have teased him rightfully for the sentiment. Just because he hadn't wanted to leave his gloves at home for a whole crowded day didn't mean he wanted to wear him.

Kaz smoothed his lapel and swung his cane in an arc to clear his path. There were hours still before he'd present himself at the Van Eck residence, and there was a conversation he had to have first.

~ * ~ * ~

"I've already run the Slat for you all day; I didn't do it so I could pull double duty." Anika was sitting on his desk when he got back, ignoring Kaz's total lack of interest and Jesper's blunt warnings. The sharpshooter might not be good for much, reluctant as he was to venture far from his life of luxury, but he knew people. And when Kaz really needed him, he knew Jesper would still come.

"I didn't ask. Rollins is returning to the city tomorrow and he needs to be back just long enough to sell out." Kaz sat at his desk and shoved a sheaf of financial records to the corner so she was obliged to hop off. "Take Pim and Roeder."

She dawdled in the doorway, her golden hair catching the weak sunlight that patched its way through the window.

"Go on." He didn't look up until the door slammed and opened again, revealing a lanky Zemeni.

"You could stand to be friendlier." 

"Why aren't you planning a party or gambling away what's left of the Van Eck fortune?" Jesper grinned crookedly.

"Wylan's finishing up details and I've run out my allowance for the month."

"Smart kid. Why're you down here?" 

"Someone once told me I was missed around the Slat." Kaz stiffened; he hadn't thought Inej had seen Jesper again after she'd left with her parents before this evening. He certainly hadn't seen her in a year....but it was none of his business, not really. He'd given her the boat so she could leave and stop distracting him. He'd never gotten more done than in the year she'd been gone. (That didn't mean he didn't want her back.)

"Not by Anika, certainly. She thinks you want me for yourself." Jesper shrugged laconically, and Kaz glanced down at the report Roeder had left on Pekka Rollins' movements. A month after NIna's plague, he'd shown all signs of returning to the city...and then hadn't. They'd never learned why. This time, Rollins was already in route to the city, and they had only hours to prove to him that the trip was hardly worthwile.

"Let her make her assumptions. Why she'd think that when I've got the handsomest upcoming merch in the city on my arm constantly, I've no idea." Jesper grinned smugly.

"I'm not a merch and I'm not as easy to give the slip as you seem to think." Wylan's ruddy curls poked their way into Kaz's office. 

"This isn't a shipping office, there's actual work to be done here. Are there any other ghosts of my past waiting outside?" Kaz didn't really want an answer, but the merchling looked as though he wanted to give one, and Dirtyhands would buy loyalty how he needed to.

"No, Inej is...I wasn't supposed to tell you that."

"Saints, Wylan, he already knew. If he hadn't, Inej would kill you, and then I'd kill you, and then... wait. If you're here, and I'm here, who's planning a party?" Jesper demanded. Kaz snorted. It was a wonder anything got done, the way Wylan and Jesper flirted and fought and never did exactly what he told them when he needed them to. 

"You hadn't heard?" Wylan looked smug. Kaz returned his attention to his papers. He'd have to switch out the barkers while Rollins was in town, it had been too easy while he was away to leave the same people on duty...

"Spit it out, merching," Jesper groaned. Wylan looked as though he'd consider it in the next month and a half until Kaz pinned him with a stare. He didn't have time for Wylan's games, not with Rollins and Inej back in town at the same time, and he damn well needed to know what else to keep one eye on before he closed up for the day.

"Nina's back."


	3. Jesper

Wylan looked entirely too pleased with himself for being able to deliver such an interesting bit of news, and when Wylan looked pleased with himself, he was kissable. So Jesper did. Kaz sighed loudly and shuffled the papers he was holding.

"I need Nina Zenik in this office in twenty minutes, preferably less, and since Wylan is evidently the only person in Ketterdam who know that she's here, he presumably also knows where she is, so he can fetch her." Jesper began to edge toward the door. "Jesper, I need you here." Wylan shrugged.

"Anyone can find her, she's having waffles at the--" Kaz looked up.

"Why are you still here?" Wylan bit his lip and left, muttering under his breath, and Jesper frowned at Kaz. 

"You didn't need to be so harsh with him, Kaz."

"If I wanted your advice, Jesper, I would ask you how to lose money, not how to run a gang. As it is, I need to be ready and waiting for Rollins when he arrives."

"Wylan and I are here as friends, not members of the Dregs. We gave that up, remember?"

"If you'd really gave up running with the Dregs, Jesper, you wouldn't be here. You miss the thrill of half the city trying to kill you on any given day, and Wylan misses being recognized for something beside his fortune. Now, how long is Inej staying for?"

"Inej keeps her own counsel, Kaz."

"Of course. How long do you _think_ she'll stay for?"

"I'm sure I couldn't say." Jesper wasn't sure whether Kaz had gotten him drunk to find out when Inej was coming back to Ketterdam or if the man's spy network was just that good. He wondered if he'd ever know. Of course, without the Wraith, the network hadn't been able to accurately find out when Pekka Rollins was coming back with any accuracy until the man was already en route to the city.

So Kaz had gotten him drunk.

That was fine. (It wasn't.) Saints, if Kaz had simply _asked_ Jesper when Inej next planned to grace Ketterdam with her presence, he might've _told_ him. But then, Kaz refused to do anything the reasonable way.

"Jesper, if and when you grace the Slat with your presence, I would appreciate information." Jesper stared at Kaz. Toward the end of the Ice Court job, and their toppling Van Eck and Rollins, Kaz had begun to seem human. Now, he was acting as if none of it had ever happened. _If this is what happens when Inej is gone for a year, she needs to come back to Ketterdam more often_. Or, more likely, Kaz was in a bad mood because of Pekka Rollins. He had a right to be, so Jesper did his best to shrug off the other boy's harsh attitude and ignore the lingering sour taste in his mouth.

The door of the Slat banged, and Nina stormed into Kaz's office.

"There had better be an _excellent_ reason for why Wylan wouldn't let me finish my waffles, Kaz Brekker," she said dramatically. "And Pekka Rollins isn't going to cut it."

"Excellent; you've heard. Does anyone know where Inej is? I'd rather only explain this once." 

"Inej is in town?" Nina did her best to look unexcited, but it was clear that she hadn't heard. "Getting the whole gang back together, Brekker?"

"I think raising Helvar from the dead would be tempting the saints a few too many times for one lifetime, don't you, Zenik? Roeder can be our sixth; he's familiar with the city in a way only someone who's been a spider here in recent months can be. As you're all aware, Pekka Rollins is en route to the city and we need to send him back to the country as quickly and permanently as his fancy coach will carry him. Ideas?"

"Counterfeit money at the Kaelish Prince's tables?" Jesper offered.

"Drain his accounts so he can't pay his employees?" Nina suggested.

"Another outbreak of plague?" Wylan proposed.

"Pretend you've taken his son?" A quiet voice offered from the doorway behind them all. Kaz, who had been staring out the window, turned as though he'd heard a warning shot. "Inej."

"Inej!" Nina swept up the shorter girl in a bear hug. "It's been entirely too long since our paths crossed, Terror of Every Pirate on the Seas."

Jesper gave a joyful yell and pulled Inej from Nina's arms, spinning her in a circle. "It's good to see you again, Inej." Wylan nodded from the corner, his smile uncertain.

"It's good to be back. I'll admit that scheming to overthrow Pekka Rollins wasn't exactly how I planned to spend my first day here, but I saw Wylan and Nina on my way from the docks, so here I am." Kaz nodded, but he obviously wasn't paying attention to what she was saying. Inej sidled closer to Jesper and whispered in his ear. "Scheming face?"

"Definitely." He grinned at her; it really had been too long since Inej was back in Ketterdam.

"We can't pretend to take his son again; he won't fall fr it again so easily. If Nina's presence in Ketterdam is connected to the plague, we won't be able to use it again either. If we had a couple of extra days to plan, we could drain his accounts, but I want some subtlety here. Something that Rollins can't trace to us, which he would if we were all flush the moment he couldn't make rent. I don't suppose you could flirt with him, Nina?"

"He realized I was connected with you during the Van Eck situation." Jesper rolled his eyes.

"As I mentioned, when Kaz asked for ideas, we could replace all the money in his gambling halls with counterfeit," Jesper pointed out. 

"We wouldn't be flush with funds immediately, and Rollins' credibility would be completely ruined," Wylan finished.

"You're cute when you're smart," Jesper told him. Wylan flushed, and Jesper tried to steal a kiss before Kaz cleared his throat.

"Think of a similar resolution for the Sweet Shop and I'll consider it. Dinner in two hours at the Hendriks residence, is that right?" He looked at all of them in studied boredom.

"Yes, all right, Brekker, you can be in charge." Nina rolled her eyes. "But in the meantime, Inej and I have a year of catching up to do." Inej put her arm around NIna and they headed out into the damp afternoon. Jesper hoped it wouldn't rain, but when Kaz was scheming, things were apt to go wrong just to spite him. Kaz buried his nose in another report on Rollins, gesturing for the two boys remaining to close the door on their way out.

"I guess this means I get you all to myself," Jesper whispered in Wylan's ear. The boy blushed rosily.


End file.
